Reading Your Dog / How To Canine Body Language / Dog Body Language

"Reading Your Dog" may seem like an odd title, but I picked it very carefully. The topic of canine communication is very complicated, and providing complete coverage is well beyond the scope of a single page. The emphasis of this page is on observing and interpreting canine body postures.

The term "body postures" is generally preferred to "body language" because there is no evidence (at least at this time) that dogs actually use or even think in language. Canine body postures are usually interpreted in terms of emotional states: happy, angry, aggressive etc.

Some people do attempt to assign more sophisticated reasoning to body postures, for example one of the books recommended below - On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals - suggests that dogs send signals out to other creatures in a deliberate effort to mediate and/or prevent conflict. In depth discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this page.

If there is one most important aspect to reading body postures it is context. It is never wise or accurate to read a dog based on one particular part or aspect of his posture. A wagging tail in and of itself means nothing. Neither does a wagging tongue, forward ears or raised hackles. Always look at the entire dog in context.

In the sections below I discuss a few different ways to read postures and how to get some practice. There's also a very informative video from Doggone Safe.

Doggone Safe also has excellent information on their site about keeping children and dogs safe.

This a happy dog that is soliciting play. She is in a "play bow" (which is difficult to see from this photo), where the front legs are bent with the elbows touching the ground and the rear end high in the air. Her mouth is open with loose lips and a flapping tongue. Her eyes are "soft" and even look a little happy.

Some other signs of a happy dog are:
- relaxed, loose, body
- fast, vigorous tail wag, usually involving the entire rear end
- tail thumping on the floor when sitting or lying down

This is a fearful and intimidated dog. His ears are back, he seems to be pulling away from the camera and he has a "half moon" eye - part of the white is showing. His lips are pulled back into a fear grimace. It would be best to give him some space.

The "half-moon" eye can also indicate potential aggression - either way, this is a dog that you want to leave alone.

Another key signal from an anxious dog is a sudden out-of-context action such as:
- repeated yawning
- licking chops without the presence of food, usually to the nose
- sudden scratching and biting at self
- sniffing the ground or other object for no real reason

This dogs looks aggressive. While it is difficult to see, his eyes seem fixed on one point ahead. He seems to be leaning forward. Ears are forward. The lips are also pushed forward and teeth are obviously showing.

So how do you get good at this?

1) See more dogs. Go to a dog park, training class, shelter or adoption event and watch the dogs. Leave your dog home so you can safely focus on the others.

2) Watch your own dog. What do his ears look like when he is relaxed? When he is excited? How about the tail, mouth and eyes? You probably known your own dog's moods, so take advantage of the opportunity.

3) Get some books and videos. Watch a few TV shows and start to make your own judgments about how the dogs you see are feeling rather than relying on the "experts" compare how they say the dog is feeling to what you see.

4) Keep in mind all dogs are a little different. After you've observed your own dog, compare her signals to other dogs that you see interacting in various situations and start to build your own personal dictionary of body postures.